Indonesia win TC for the 5th time in a row not because they had the best player (just check the players rankings), rather its nationalism. Did you know that Hendrawan did not have Indonesian citizenship until 2 days before leaving for Guangzhou? And still He played like hell!
Well, in my opinion the rankning system is a big joke. Look at chandra/sigit ranking, yet they are able to beat the higher ranked danish and malaysian pair so easily. It is very obvious that the two pairs are playing different class of play.
If one doesn't play tournaments, one doesn't earn ranking points. Now, what's unfair with that? Nobody ever claimed that the aim of the world ranking was to pinpoint who is the best in the world. I don't know what gave you that idea. The purpose is to provide an objective base for seedings to tournaments, based on pure statistics. And in a seeding, it doesn't really matter whether you're #1, #2, or #3 in the world ranking. Just because pair A beats pair B once (as in this case) it doesn't necessarily mean that pair A is better. I agree with you that Candra/Sigit are a formidable pair, but it is questionable if they are the best. I would bet on a certain Korean pair... And for that matter, the Danes are a new pair and have yet to prove their full worth. They have been very consistant in the few events they have participated in.
Didn't Chandra/Sigit lose to a HK pair in their first match of the Japan Open? And look where the HK pair are now (no.29). "It is very obvious that the two pairs are playing different class of play."
It is rather self-confidence than nationalism, to my opinion. And by the way, does anyone think nationalism should be encouraged in badminton competetion?
Pardon me asking, but which country did Hendrawan originally came from? I don't know if this thread will ever be found again, but what the heck.
Hendrawan is a Chinese Indonesian. Read this thread for more info. http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7170&highlight=Chinese+Indonesian
